Bust support



May 2, 1939. v. F. KEMP BUST SUPPORT Filed April 5, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1.

HTTO/P/VE) v May 2, 1939. v. F: Km 2,156, 18

' BUST SUPPORT Filed April 5, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOI? Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STAT PATENT OFFH BUST sorrow Application April 5, 1935, Serial No. 14,906 In Great Britain April 11, 1934 6 Claims.

ing to their becoming slack when she bends si-de-' wise. These improvements consist in leading the shoulder straps through a guide at a point or points at the back and afterwards fixing them to a point or points at the front of the wearer. In this way any slackness in either shoulder strap is taken-up by the-tightening of the other and thereby an equabletension in both of them is preserved with the result that the slipping of the shoulder strap over the lowered shoulder when the wearer bends sidewise, is prevented by avoiding slackness. For the same purpose the straps may be made with a sufficient range of elasticity.

According to the present invention two pockets joined together side-by-side at a distance apart equal to that between the wearers breasts,

are provided with a lateral extension of the lower edge on one or both sides, which is adapted to pass around the wearers back to the outer edge of the other pocket or to the extremity of the other extension, where they are fastened together. A shoulder strap is attached at one end, to the upper edge of each of the aforesaid breast pockets and after passing over the wearers shoulder passes through one or more rings or other guides which are attached to or formed. on the aforesaid lateral extension or other part at the back of the wearer at or near the centre thereof, after which the extremities of the shoulder straps are led in opposite directions to the front where each is attached to the lower edge of one of the aforesaid pockets. When the shoulder straps cross at the back the free end of each is preferably ,attached at a point intersected by a line passing obliquely between the breast pockets from the point to which the other end of the same shoulder strap is attached, and when they are not crossed at the back the free end of each is preferably attached at a point intersected by a line passing obliquely between the breast pockets from the point to which the other end of the other shoulder strap is attached. The ring or rings through which the shoulder straps pass is or are preferably in such a position as to be nearer to the neck than the end of the shoulder.

In some cases the extremities of the base of the breast pockets may be attached to a lower garment by means of the lateral extensions.

According to one mode of carrying out the present invention, the shoulder strap from the right-hand pocket passes over the right shoulder, thence through a ring at the centre of the wearers back which is secured to the lateral extension or other part, whereaafter it is led around 5 the wearers left side to the front and attached to the lower edge of the pockets at a point intersected by an oblique line passing between the Wearers breasts from the top of the right-hand pocket. In this case the other shoulder strap 19 would pass over the left shoulder, through the ring and afterwards around the wearers right side to the front where it would be attached to the lower edge of the pockets at a point intersected by an oblique line passing between the wearer's breasts from the top of the left-hand pocket. With this arrangement any slackening in the right-hand shoulder strap occurring when the wearer bends to the right would be taken up by the convex curvature on the other side of the 20 body which would cause the shoulder strap to be drawn through the ring and so take up the slack.

Alternatively, each shoulder strap may, after passing through the ring at the back, be led around the same side to the front and be at- 25 tached to the lower edge of the pockets at a point intersected by an oblique line passing between the wearers breasts from the top of the pocket on the other side, whence any slackness due to the lowering of the shoulder on one side 30 would be taken up by the rising of the other shoulder whose shoulder strap will raise the upper edge of the pocket on that side.

In either case the shoulder straps may be wholly or in part composed of elastic material in which case their greater length will preserve a greater uniformity of tension under variations of stress.

In some cases two or more rings which may be triangular or of other suitable shape may be attached directly or indirectly to the aforesaid lateral extension or to other parts at the back of the support, through which rings the shoulder straps may pass in succession, for the purpose of guiding them in the desired direction in the manner hereinbefore indicated.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, it will now be'more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a rear elevation of one construction of bust support according to the present invention,

Figure 2 is a front view of the garment shown in Figure 1,

Figures 3 and 4 are views similar to Figure 1 showing alternative constructions, and

Figure 5 is a detail illustrating a modification hereinafter referred to.

According to the construction illustrated by Figures 1 and 2 the bust support comprises two breast pockets ab joined together or formed in one piece and having their outer ends connected by an elastic extension c, stitched or otherwise secured at d to the pocket a and attached by hooks and eyes e or other suitable means to the pocket I). Shoulder straps fg respectively secured at one end to the upper edges of the pockets ab pass over the shoulders and through a ring h secured as by stitching 7' to the extension 0, and are thereafter respectively led around the wearers body on the same side as the shoulder over which they passed, to the front where they are suitably secured at points kl which are preferably in such positions that a line passing from each of them to the point of attachment of the other shoulder strap to the upper edge of the respective breast pocket, passes obliquely between the breast pockets.

According to the construction illustrated by Figure 3, the outer ends of the breast pockets are each provided with an elastic extension 0 adapted to be hooked or otherwise fastened together at e and each shoulder strap fg passes through a separate ring mn one of which is secured to each extension 0 Preferably, the rings ma are contained in open-ended pockets formed in the extensions c as shown, in which case the-extensionsmay be formed double and their upper edges-connected with lines of stitching 0 to limit the lateral movement of the shoulder straps. The rings mn may conveniently beattached to the extensions 0 by short tapes 3: as shown at the broken-away portion at the right of Figure 3.

According to the construction shown in Figure 4, the shoulder straps fg of a bust support similar to that shown in Figure 1 are crossed before passing through the ring secured to the extension 0 and afterwards led round the wearers body on the opposite side to the shoulder over which they passed and are secured in front at points which are preferably in such positions that the line between the points of attachment of the opposite ends of each shoulder strap passes obliquely between the wearers breasts. The ring 7;} which may be of any desired shape is shown as a rhombus having its sides tu so inclined that they are normal to a line that bisects the angle between the two parts of the respective shoulder straps fg.

The modified ring 2) shown in Figure 5 for use with the garment shown in Figure 1 is triangular and the inclination of its sides is such that they are respectivelyat right angles to the line bisecting the angle between the two parts of each of the straps jg.

I claim:

1. A bust support having breast-supporting portions; connecting means between the outer lateral extremities of said breast-supporting portions; shoulder straps respectivelysecured at one end to said breast-supporting portions at points above each breast; a ring secured to said connecting means through which said shoulder straps pass and are thereafter led in opposite directions around the wearers body and means for fixing the free ends of said shoulder straps at the front of the garment substantially as set forth.

2. A bust support having breast-supporting portions; connecting means between the outer lateral extremities of said breast-supporting portions; shoulder straps respectively secured at one end to said breast-supporting portions at points above each breast; open-ended pockets in said connecting means; guiding means situated within said open-ended pockets, through which said shoulder straps slidably pass and are thereafter led in opposite directions around the wearers body and means for attaching the free end of said shoulder straps to the front of the garment substantially as set forth.

3. A bust support comprising two breast pockets joined together; an elastic connection between the outer lateral extremities of said breast pockets; resiliently extensible shoulder straps respectively secured at one end to the top of each breast pocket; a ring secured to said elastic connection through which said shoulder straps pass and are thereafter led in opposite directions around the wearers body and a separate point of attachment for the free end of each shoulder strap at the front of the garment on a line passing obliquely between the breast pockets from the point of attachment of the shoulder strap to the top of the breast pocket on the other side of the wearers 5,

body.

4. A bust support comprising two breast pockets joined together; an elastic connection between the outer lateral extremities of said breast pockets; resiliently extensible shoulder straps respectively secured at one end to the top of each breast pocket; two rings secured to said elastic connection through one of which each shoulder strap respectively passes and are thereafter led in opposite directions around the wearers body and a separate point of attachment for the free end of each shoulder strap at the front of the garment on a line passing obliquely between the breast pockets from the point of attachment of the shoulder strap to the top of the breast pocket on the other side of the wearers body.

5. A bust support comprising two breast pockets joined together; an elastic connection between the outer lateral extremities of said breast pockets; resiliently extensible shoulder straps respectively secured at one end to the top of each breast pocket; guide means secured to said elastic connection through which said shoulder straps pass and are thereafter led in opposite directions around the wearers body and a separate point of attachment for the free end of each shoulder straps slidably pass after being crossed over each other and are thereafter respectively led around the side of the-wearers body that is opposite to the shoulder over which they passed; and a separate point of attachment for the free end of each shoulder strap at the front of the garment on a line passing obliquely between the breast-sup-.

porting portions from the point of attachment of its other end to the top of the breast pocket on the other side of the wearers body.

VIVIAN FITCH KEMP. 

